Beer: Hard cider making a comeback

By JAY R. BROOKS, Digital First Media

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Cider is making a major comeback -- and I don’t mean the juice that comes in small boxes with a straw. I’m referring to the fermented type, which in the U.S. is always called “hard cider,” to distinguish it from the nonalcoholic juice.

Believe it or not, up until the mid-19th century, cider was the most popular alcoholic drink in this country. It was a colonial mainstay because apple trees grew easily throughout New England. Johnny Appleseed walked the country planting apple trees so pioneers heading west could make cider in their new settlements.

That all changed in the decades following the 1840s, when pilsners arrived on these shores after taking Europe by storm. German immigrants built beer empires, and as the population moved west, settlers found that barley grew better than apples in the Midwest, too.

Prohibition was hard on the brewing industry, but it was even harder on cider-makers. Prohibitionists burned entire orchards of cider apples. As a result, most apple growers planted sweeter apples that couldn’t be used to make alcoholic cider, which made recovery after the 21st Amendment even more difficult.

In other countries, cider traditions flourished. Many of the best ciders come from England, France and Spain. Cider is also produced in Ireland, Germany, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand and other countries.

Stateside, cider began making a comeback in the 1980s, after wine coolers like Bartles & Jaymes hit it big, and other companies began looking for sweeter alcoholic drinks for that market. By the 1990s, hard ciders were selling briskly.

Many of those hard ciders had added sugar or additional fruit for a second fermentation, which increased their alcohol percentage. Most cider purists consider this apple wine. Hard cider, many contend, is simply fermented apple juice -- or, occasionally, other fruit juice. Hard cider made from pears is called a “perry.”

By the end of the century, cider sales started to slip, their allure replaced by alcopops, flavored malt beverages such as Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Smirnoff Ice.

Craft cider’s comebackOnly a handful of traditional cider-makers remained by 2005 or so. But as craft beer sales began skyrocketing, the remaining established cider companies began growing, too, and new cider-makers began opening for business.

Today, there are nearly 200 American cideries, and they are nearly everywhere. There are cideries in 30 states, with concentrations throughout New England, the Great Lakes states and the Pacific Northwest. Hard cider sales tripled between 2007 and 2012 and grew by 50 percent last year alone.

At the third annual CiderCon, held in Chicago in February, America’s cider-makers created the United States Association of Cider Makers. The goal of the newly formed trade organization: “To gather and share information about cider production, cider regulations, and cider apple growing, to help members improve their operations, raise awareness, and advance cider in the market.”

For a delicious and locally grown alternative to beer, craft cider may be the next big thing.